Meta will keep Horizon Worlds alive in VR ‘for the foreseeable future’

After one day Meta declared that he was closing Horizon Worlds in virtual reality, Andrew Bosworth, the company’s chief technology officer, announced a reversal of course.

“I have a little good news for you here,” Bosworth said. Video either On Instagram. “We have decided, just today, to keep Horizon Worlds running in VR for existing games, to support the fans who have reached out to us.”

dead It initially sent an email to Horizon Worlds users on Tuesday saying it would end Horizon Worlds in VR on June 15 but would keep the platform afloat on mobile. This move came after Meta announced this in February Transferring investments Aside from its efforts in the Metaverse and VR space, it laid off 10 percent of the staff at its VR division, Reality Labs.

The Meta’s reversal is a bit of a surprise, though Bosworth says it was a response to fan outreach. When asked to comment on Bosworth’s announcement, Meta pointed to his Instagram video but added that there will still be new features on the horizon, such as virtual concerts.

“Immersive 3D and 2D concerts on Quest can still be accessed via the TV app in the Quest Store,” a Meta representative wrote in an email. “We will have some new concerts coming as part of our larger content slate.”

Users won’t be able to create new spaces in Horizon Worlds, but a Meta representative says “existing user-created worlds are included.” WIRED wondered when users would no longer be able to create new worlds, but Meta has not yet provided a date.

Bosworth and Meta said there will be no new games or major investments in Horizon World. Meta made a similar move in January with Super fitness service, and terminate future updates while keeping the service running. He says most of the energy of consumers and creators in Horizon Worlds was going toward mobile, hence the choice to lean into that.

“For people who already have games they love and use in Horizon Worlds, they will be able to download the Horizon Worlds app and use it in VR for the foreseeable future,” Bosworth said in the video.

It is unclear what this future looks like. Obviously, Meta doesn’t get as much out of the service as it puts into it, so the pressure to cut costs isn’t going away.

“I wonder how long this will last,” says Jitesh Ubrani, A. Research Director In the IDC Analyst Group. “‘Expected advantage’ doesn’t seem like a strong endorsement that this will be around forever.”